Frequently Asked Questions

Question:

How does “standby” work on the Nantucket route?

Answer:

Customers who desire to travel on a standby basis from the Hyannis terminal are required to go in person to the terminal and place their names on the standby list, while customers desiring to travel on a standby basis from the Nantucket terminal may either call or go in person to the Nantucket terminal to place their names on the standby list. Customers must also provide the Authority with all pertinent information about their vehicles and travel plans.

The Authority generally will accept a customer's name for placement on the standby list in the order received, and will provide the customer with a “standby slip” that will have the customer's standby number and date on it. The standby slip will also have the address of the Authority's website page on which the terminal's current vehicle standby status will be posted (and stating which customers with specified standby numbers and dates should arrive at the terminal by a certain time), as well as the Authority's telephone number that the customer alternatively can call to obtain the same information. Once a customer receives his or her standby slip:

(i) Nantucket terminal: Unless the customer is informed by the Authority that he or she should remain at the terminal for possible travel on the next scheduled trip, the customer must depart with his or her vehicle from the Nantucket terminal. (No spaces are available to accommodate standby vehicles at that terminal, and therefore there is no physical vehicle standby line there.) Thereafter, the customer must regularly check the Authority's website and/or call the Authority’s telephone number set forth on his or her standby slip to find out what time the customer must return to the terminal for possible travel on a standby basis. It is the customer's responsibility to return to the terminal at the appropriate time, and the customer's failure to do so will result in the customer forfeiting his or her place and being dropped from the standby list.

(ii) Hyannis terminal: If the terminal is then able to accommodate the parking of standby vehicles of customers using the Authority's “drive-on/drive-off” services, the customer may leave his or her vehicle at the terminal and it will be transported by the Authority on a standby basis on the next available trip. Otherwise, the customer may depart with his or her vehicle from the terminal instead of waiting there for the next available trip. Thereafter, however, the customer must regularly check the Authority's website and/or call the Authority's telephone number set forth on his or her standby slip to find out what time the customer must return to the terminal potentially to travel on a standby basis. It is the customer's responsibility to return to the terminal at the appropriate time, and the customer's failure to do so will result in the customer forfeiting his or her place and being dropped from the standby list.

Customers who are required to return to the terminal at a particular time are not guaranteed travel on the next scheduled trip, as the Authority generally will require more standby customers to return to the terminal than can be accommodated on the next trip, to take into account the possibility that other customers with reservations may fail to arrive for their reserved trips. Vehicles traveling on a standby basis are generally boarded onto vessels after vehicles with reservations, as space becomes available and in the order that such standby vehicles are on the standby list for each terminal (except for customers with disabilities who need to travel with their vehicles, emergency situations, disruptions in service and other unusual circumstances).

Once a customer is placed on the standby list, he or she must travel on the first trip that is available to the customer on a standby basis. Customers may not change their placement on the standby list except to forfeit their place and be placed at the end of the list. Nor may any customers exchange their places on the list with any other customers. Except for those customers who have forfeited their place on the standby list, customers whose vehicles have not been transported by the end of the day retain their place on the standby list for the following day. In addition, standby vehicles parked at the Hyannis terminal are not subject to any parking charges while they remain on the standby list.

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